[2000-05-28-Monterrey] El Hijo del Santo vs Blue Panther

[soup23]

A rematch of the classic from April. This starts off more testy than the prior match with both guys going after the eyes and mask early on. The matwork that flows from that is very uncooperative looking and great. Check out a pinfall around 5-6 minutes in where neither guy is rolling in a natural way to assert themselves. First fall opens up at the end and Santo has the clutch hold on when the referee physically drags him off. The fall is then awarded to Panther and Santo flips his shit. Crowd flips out in second fall at hint of Panther’s second getting involved. Santo has a bunch of offense he is mounting but he misses a senton on the outside and hits the wood floor. Panther works over the back until Santo gets the flash pin off a rana from a powerbomb. Santo held onto the ropes showing some of his old rudo tactics. In between falls, Porky works out Santo’s back in a nice moment. Third fall is all about desperation. Santo goes through his complete aerial arsenal and to no avail. The referee is bumped through Panther and he hooks a submission onto Santo where supposedly he submits. He celebrates his victory until Santo rolls him up allowing the referee to recover and count the fall. Porky and Santo embrace. These two had themselves a great mini feud for two months. Which match I preferred is splitting hairs as the matwork was better the month before but this told the progression of the story overall. Looking at our listings going forward, we get less and less singles Monterrey that is sad but it is awesome that we have this and the April match to pad the resume of these two. ****1/2

[Tim Evans]

This started off not very good with seconds interfering and rudo refs. That's too be expected in Monterrey singles matches. I dug Ultimo Guerrero's LWO shirt. Around the second fall, this got really good. The crowd was going crazy for Santo and Santo did a lot of dives. Love the fans running away trying to not get hit as Panther and Santo are flying all over the place. The emotion in the third fall made this seem like a mask match. Porky starts crying at the finish and the crowd rushes the ring at the end while Security tries to get them out of the ring. Great story and emotion. Not as good as the earlier match but still really good.

[AstroBoy]

Santo's fire and execution is just so awesome in the first fall of this. They work a screwy finish to award Panther the first fall, though, and we pick up with Santo working holds on Panther in the segunda. He is masterfully working holds as the seconds distract the referee and this helps give Panther a chance to sneak in a low blow and reversal in momentum. Overcoming the odds, Santo pulls off a nice victory roll to steal the second fall back.

 

Santo two great topes and a headscissors to the outside in the third fall. The pacing here is excellent as Santo keeps coming desperately close to grabbing the win in the third fall. Some referee silliness leads to Panther finding his opening and *thinking* he's stolen the final fall only to get caught in a small package for the 3-count. Big pop for the finish and expertly pulled off. Santo was absolutely fantastic from start to finish here and this was a great match.

 

****1/4

[drew wardlaw]

Most everything has been said already, but I loved the contrast in matwork during the first falls of each match. The first one had super clean, smooth work and this had s much grittier feel to it. Combine that with the mask ripping at the beginning and the chaos with Porky attacking Santo and the teases of the seconds and this is a very cool series these two had, and this one is a standout on its own.

[superkix]

I didn't quite enjoy this as much as their first match it was still really good. Mas shenanigans. Santo flies around Panther with this real swanky satellite arm drag and puts him in the clutch, but the ref yanks him off and awards Panther the fall. Santo says fuck it and walks off. Second fall, Santo crashes and burns with the plancha to the outside so Panther provide shim with some chiropractic services before Santo rolls him up. Ultimo teasing the crowd was a lot of fun. Third fall saw Santo diving a lot and nearly taking out some little kid. I really liked Panther's knees to the back while they're on the mat. Is it a common lucha trope for each fall to have a different ref? Third ref gets elbow dropped, Panther puts him in some kind of rocking horse hold, thinks he's won but Santo rolls him up again and the crowd loses their shit. Fun stuff.

[ohtani's jacket]

Another great match between these two. This was slower and grittier than the April match. Tempers flared throughout especially when they had each other locked in submission holds. There was a lot of bullshit involved but if you're going to do a story-driven match this is how to do it right. I liked the work Porky did as Santo's second. He was like an expectant father the way he paced about. I've always thought of this as a bout that goes hand-in-hand with the April classic. I don't think it's a classic in and of itself but I think it's cool that they worked a different sort of match, giving us that nice contrast to the April match.